Naytronix
New album ‘Air’ released June 7th via BotCave Records
Watch new video ‘Come Back’ directed by Mad Conway
Whenever the opportunity arises, between globe-spanning tours and marathon writing sessions, Tune-Yards’ co-producer and bassist Nate Brenner makes a point of holing up in the duo’s Oakland studio and churning out countless musical ideas for his
Yet Air, Brenner’s bombastic third full-length – culled from nearly a hundred musical sketches – captures a dramatic turning point in his work. The soft-focus haze that permeated his earlier releases has burnt off, revealing a penchant for maximalist and kaleidoscopic arrangements in the vein of Tame Impala or the synth-pop wizardry of fellow Bay Area artist Toro y Moi. The one-two opening punch of “I’m Becoming You” and “Actor in My Favorite Show,” for instance, bombard with a delightful cocktail of squelching synths that shoot forward into equally mesmerizing choruses. Later, “Human” leaps effortlessly between a menacing bass riff and a lush Technicolor piano section. Full of imaginative and hard-hitting percussion, tracks like late-album standout “Dead Bird,” are rendered more than just high-energy, but straight-up danceable.
At the heart of Brenner’s new album is a surreal and dizzying tension between this exuberance and a persisting dread that human civilization is blazing a path towards its own demise. Throughout Air, his fear and angst are never far from the surface. On the pared-down “Swallow the Moon,” Brenner yearns to escape a world in which “we don’t belong” in
While largely a solo endeavour, Air, which was mixed by Jonas Verwijnen at Kaiku Studios Berlin, and mastered by Sarah Register, features collaborations from some of the Bay Area’s most inventive musicians: songwriter Madeline Kenney, percussionist Hamir Atwal, guitarist Mark Allen-Piccolo, Ross Peacock (synth and co-production) and Tune-Yards’ Merrill Garbus (vocals and co-production). Yet Brenner is firmly in the driver’s seat throughout the album, and Air captures the work of a singular and multi-talented artist at the top of his game. At a time when many of us are left wondering whether humans are inherently good or evil, Naytronix’s salient and sumptuous Air shows us that the two are always at play.
Tracklist:
I’m Becoming You
Actor in My Favorite Show
Come Back
Swallow The Moon
Changing
Following a Pattern
Human
Dead Bird
I Feel Strange
Movie
Live dates: Vamp In store – Oakland, CA April 26th (with Mike Gamble)
Bandcamp Record Store, Oakland CA June 7th (Album Release show with Salami Rose Joe Luis and DJ Momomamo)
No Comments